Voting demand causes stress to lone pre-poll centre

BELLARINE voters are casting early ballots at a record pace for the state election, with one candidate upset at the available services to cater for the increased demand.

Independent Bellarine candidate Sarah Fenton said hundreds of voters arriving each hour at the electorate’s pre-polling station had caused traffic and parking congestion that had disrupted nearby businesses, while residents waited uncovered in wind and rain during the inclement weather that struck the region in the past fortnight.

Ms Fenton sourced market tents from her small business to be set up on site and provide protection for voters.

She said it had resulted in “bedlam” at the voting centre despite pre-election predictions of a high early voter turnout.

“We have an aging population and we have bad weather that has been predicted for a long time,” she said.

“People need to be covered, it’s been atrocious weather.

“This site here was never going to be appropriate… there’s no parking and it’s absolutely annoying the local traders.”

The Bellarine district has just one early voting centre at northern Ocean Grove, at an industrial precinct in Smithton Grove.

Victorian Electoral Commission data indicated 14,301 Bellarine residents had voted early by the end of Tuesday.

This year’s figure means about 1,500 people had visited the electoral office each day since early voting opened last Monday (November 14).

That number is up from the 9,336 people that had cast their vote at the same stage of the 2018 election.

A further 8,087 Bellarine voters had applied for a postal vote for this year’s poll early this week, well above the 4,800 which mailed in their ballots at the previous election.

Local figures align with statewide trends, where early vote representation is up around 22 per cent and postal votes up 50 per cent compared with the past state election.